


hajimemashite | はじめまして

by patriciaselina



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Awkward Crush, Big Brothers, Crush at First Sight, Domestic Fluff, First Meetings, Gen, M/M, POV First Person, Sibling Love, rin u ok bb, the correct tag for Rei in this AU would be Matsuoka Rei but nvm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-04-26
Packaged: 2018-01-20 19:47:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1523384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patriciaselina/pseuds/patriciaselina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on tumblr user ezzydean's <a href="http://ezzydean.tumblr.com/tagged/Neighbor-AU">neighbor AU</a>, where Rin is a twentysomething-year-old raising his little siblings Rei and Gou after their parents die in a car accident, and Makoto is the heartstoppingly attractive guy living next door.</p>
            </blockquote>





	hajimemashite | はじめまして

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic just kinda...wrote itself, because I am a nineteen-year-old with an almost-three-year-old little (only) brother, and because this AU is everything I never knew I needed until now. Blitzfic typed up in the middle of breakfast. [Here's a link to my tumblr post.](http://patriciaselina.co.vu/post/83869369552/fic-hajimemashite)

“ _Onii-san_?”

“What is it, Rei?”

“You might want to check on your soup. It’s boiling over.”

“Oh shi... _shucks_ , you’re right!” I exclaim, just barely biting off the curse. Rei’s already heard enough of that from Samezuka, and I’ve worked too hard on clipping that outta his vocabulary to just bring it back in now. Have to be a good role model and all that jazz. “Thank you, Rei.”

Now, Rei’s a smart kid. Normally - and I am basing this info off the stories he tells me about his classmates - when kids see their parents acting weird, they ask _questions_. Sure, I’m not Gou and Rei’s parent - though I’m the closest thing they have to one, now - but Rei still doesn’t ask me anything, even though I’ve spent the last four-or-five minutes staring off into space and ignoring the soup I’m boiling and I don’t usually do that.

 _Rei’s a smart kid_. Which means that he’s most likely caught on to what I’ve been thinking, which is embarrassing.

I begin ladling a serving of over-boiled soup. God, Rei might know that the reason why I keep spilling this is ‘cuz I’m spending way too much time thinking about _that_ guy. That guy with the gorgeous green eyes and fantastic shoulders. This cannot do, I think, as another spoonful of soup splashes its way to my wrist. I need to focus, dammit!

“Here you go,” I say, setting a big bowl for the two to share between them. “D’you need my help?”

That question was directed to Gou, who tends to play with her food, but Rei’s the one who takes the spoon from my hands anyway. “There’s no need, _onii-san_. I’ll handle it.”

I walk away to ladle a portion of soup for myself, and try very hard not to let the cuteness of Rei feeding Gou soup get to me. I am a grown man, _dammit_ , my siblings can be the very epitome of cute and that shouldn’t even faze me, I am an adult.

But aw, what the hell. Rei - super-serious, quiet and uptight Rei - is currently airplaning mushy noodles into Gou’s gaping mouth. With the prerequisite sound effects I used to do, when it was me feeding him. I melt anyway.

I sit across from them and help myself to my own lunch. Normally I’d make something from scratch, both because I used to be an athlete and should promote healthy eating, and because the smiles on their little faces when they say that I’m “ _the best cook ever, 10/10, will eat again_ ” is my weakness. But we haven’t gone on our grocery run yet, and like hell am I gonna let my lil’ brother and sister go hungry ‘cuz all we have left is probably-unhealthy instant noodle soup. So instant noodle soup it is.

It tastes fine anyway, and Gou’s not refusing any of Rei’s airplanes, so I guess that’d be fine.

“Hey, Rei?”

“Yes?”

“We’re going to the supermarket later.” I tell him, pausing as he finally eats a spoonful of noodles himself. Rei _always_ makes sure that Gou is fed before he himself eats. As if I couldn’t be proud of him enough _already_. “What do you want to have for dinner?”

Rei opens his mouth to talk, and stills, then he smiles at me. “Anything will do, _onii-san_. You have _really_ good cooking skills - right, Gou?” Gou nods, a sunny grin on her face. “All right, let’s get some more food in you, Gou...”

When I inevitably keel over and die the cause better be “ _Rei and Gou’s insane cuteness_ ”, I am not allowing any other reason to be written down.

I make a mental note to find some way to have fish fillet for dinner. Rei didn’t say anything, but I know he likes fish - which came as a surprise to Mum and Pop ‘cuz fishes aren’t usually things that four-year-olds like.

And I know that the reason why Rei didn’t say so is ‘cuz he heard me ranting about bills the other night, when he woke up thirsty. _Not_ my best moment, I’m aware.

As soon as we’re done with dinner I put our bowls in the sink and hand them their toothbrushes. Rei’s brushing his teeth with the exact instructions a book of his probably had, and Gou’s got her toothbrush wedged in between her teeth, suckling as if it were a lollipop.

“‘ _Nii-chan_ ,” she says, pulling at the hem of my shirt. Gou knows how to speak, understands the things we say, but has difficulty with longer words. She’s only two years old, after all. “Rei-nii has big ‘brush.”

“That’s ‘cuz he’s big enough to _not_ swallow his toothpaste, hun.” I say, ruffling her hair. “Isn’t that right, Rei?”

Rei nods, still brushing, looking down on his watch - is my baby bro seriously _timing himself_?

“Rei-nii got ‘tta’fly,” Gou pouts. On the last grocery run Rei had asked for permission to let him buy that ridiculous toothbrush. It’s sparkly purple and has a large butterfly printed on its handle and I almost laughed but he had gaped at me with those large eyes of his and I was just too far gone.

The purple of his toothbrush is no match for his eyes, but it’s a close thing. He really looks like a guy-version of Mum.

“I _want_ ,” Gou says, carefully - ‘ _want_ ’ is one of her favorite words, though she sometimes mistakes it for ‘ _wash_ ’. “‘tta’fly too. ‘ _Nii-chan_?”

“We’ll get you something cuter,” I whisper to her, conspirationally, side-eyeing Rei the whole time. “Like a sparkly pink one, with ribbons. _Way_ much better than butterflies.”

“I can hear you,” Rei says, after he’s done gargling. “And though I still believe butterflies are better than ribbons, I think ribbons would suit you well, Gou. They’d match the one you have in your hair, see?” he says, tugging at the ends of our little sister’s ribbon to keep them straight.

The prospect of matching seems to make our sister happy, ‘cuz she brightens up and parrots “Ribbons!” with a cheery voice as she bounds out the bathroom, Rei trailing behind her to tell her to watch her step. I follow suit.

They’ve already had their baths, and their clothes are fine so I just have to fuss over Rei’s hair a bit – still untamable by a hair comb, how is that even possible – and re-tie the ribbon in Gou’s hair. Then I strap Gou to my chest and hold Rei’s hand in mine, mentally re-check that I have the house keys, my phone and wallet in my pockets, and go out the door.

…of course, though, of course, because it seems Lady Luck really haves fun teasing me, as soon as I lock the door behind us, I see him.

“Hello there!” he says, waving to us with that bright smile that I can’t even believe is for _me_ – why would he look so goddamned _happy_ to see me? “I’m so sorry I didn’t introduce myself before. I’m Makoto Tachibana, and I live here, too.” Again with that damned smile. “Are you going out?”

There’s a part of my mind that tells me not to tell him, ‘cuz of all the risks with thievery and stuff, but what the hell this guy just looks too…soft to be a criminal element. Must be something about the eyes. “We have to go get groceries.”

“That’s funny,” The guy – _Makoto_ – says, with a quirk of his lips. Why am I spending too much time looking at his lips. “I was gonna go on a grocery run too. Would you like to go together?”

He asks this with this very impressive look on his face that could give Rei and Gou’s puppy-dog-eyes a run for their money. What the hell, as if I’d say no to that…

“Yeah, sure,” I mumble, walking down the hallway with him by our side. Rei had, on reflection, taken to hiding behind my leg since Makoto appeared. Still so shy, that kid.

“I hope this won’t seem rude of me, but, ahh,” Makoto trails off, gesturing that I should go on the narrower part of the hall first. Normally I’d refuse this ‘cuz what the hell, I’m not some lady that guys should open doors for, just ‘cuz I have kids, but coming from _him_ it seems like it’s more than just some empty chivalry. This guy is actually this accommodating _for real_ , and thinking about the impossibility of that makes my head hurt. “You never told me your name.”

“I’m Rin Matsuoka,” I say, and somehow manage to not have my face go up in flames because the fluffy feeling in my heart that suddenly arose when Makoto tries it out – smiles and mutters ‘ _Rin_ ’ under his breath – is beyond embarrassing. “This is my little brother Rei, and our little sister Gou.”

“Hello there, Rei-kun, Gou-chan. It’s really nice to meet you.”

Rei doesn’t stop hiding behind not my leg, not yet, but he gives this cute little wave that makes Makoto’s eyes light up anyway.

“Your little siblings are very cute.”

 _Damn right_ my little sibs are cute as hell. “Thank you.”

Makoto takes a step forward to open the door for us, and though he’s still smiling there’s a sparkle of… _something_ to his green eyes that I hadn’t seen there before.

“Guess they take that from _you_ ,” he says, and as he walks on, humming contentedly under his breath, I match his footfalls, a lonely corner of my mind perfectly aware that I am feeling dazed right about now.

“ _Onii-san_?”

“Yes, Rei?”

“Please look where you’re going,” Rei says, pulling me by the hand and sighing. As if he were the adult and I was the child. “You almost walked into that pole.”

I blame Makoto, I really do.

**Author's Note:**

> Gou’s mostly based off of the hyper-ness of my lil’ bro Hunter (who’s turning three exactly a month from now!), with her speech patterns, fondness for strawberry-jelly-like toothpaste, and tendency for running around like a woman possessed. Rei, on the other hand, is based off the more mature parts of the aforementioned Hunter – he’s the first one other than Rin to pick up on his onii-san’s crush, and there was supposed to be a scene at the grocery where he gets free taste samples for him and Rin. 
> 
> Also, just in case it weren’t obvious already – I really like this AU, thanks for making it happen. <3


End file.
